Sunday, 9 September 2018

From Dover Beach to the Prince Unexpected: Sunday Concerts at Conway Hall

Conway Hall's long-running Sunday Concerts series [it traces its history back to 1878] starts its 2018/19 season tonight (9 September 2018) with Simon Wallfisch (baritone/cello) and the Fitzwilliam Quartet performing Samuel Barber's Dover Beach alongside Wallfisch's arrangements of Barber and Schubert songs for baritone and quartet, then Simon wears a different had and plays the cello, joining the quartet for a performance of Schubert's Quintet in C D956. An evening not to be missed, but if you are busy fear not, the season has plenty of other delights on offer.

I Musicanti are bringing the premiere of Robin Walker's The Song of Bone on Stone alongside Vinzenz Lachner's chamber arrangement of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto (something which has to be heard to be believed), with Leslie Howard playing the demanding piano solo, whilst the Trio Chausson are bringing the music of Cecile Chaminade and Erich Korngold. On 30 September, I will be joining mezzo-soprano Louise Winter and the Primrose Piano Quartet to give a pre-concert talk about their programme of music by Johannes Brahms, Robert and Clara Schumann.

Further ahead, the Barbican Piano Trio will be giving the London premiere of Joseph Phibbs' Suite from the Prince Unexpected, whilst ensembles from the Royal College of Music will be performing music by Louise Farrenc and Missa Mazzoli. The Oculi Ensemble will be showcasing Richard Strauss the chamber music composer (a lesser known example of his talents), and again I will be giving a pre-concert talk.

The Monte Piano Trio perform a trio arrangement of Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht created by one of Schoenberg's students, and there is a pre-concert recital from pianist Hiro Takenouchi (one of a number he is giving, playing Mozart's piano sonatas). Series director Simon Callaghan will be giving a recital on 2 December, performing piano music by Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, and the series ends with the Chamber Ensemble of London in a varied evening of music from Handel to Copland, including Britten, Kreisler, Mozart and Clive Jenkins.

And there is much more besides; full details from the Conway Hall website and you can find the Autumn 2018 programme brochure on Issu.

Quickening:

Songs by Robert Hugill to texts by English and Welsh poets now available from Amazon

four delicate, sensitive settings of Ivor Gurney, drawing performances of like quality. - it is Rosalind Ventris’s viola, weaving its way around and between the voice and William Vann’s piano, that is most beguilingGramphone magazine Jan 2018